Pale Ale

I made this Pale Ale to provide some parting gifts for my colleagues at Middlebury College as I officially set off on a new adventure to become a professional brewer. As such, I chose a beer recipe that used simple additions of pale ale malt and flaked oats, along with boatloads of hops, since that’s what’s hot today. Five grams of gypsum added to give the hops a bit of pop, apt since the latest Champlain Water District Report indicates low alkalinity and mineral content. That’ll be something I pay close attention to on subsequent pilot brewing days.

The mash temperature successfully settled at 151 degrees Fahrenheit, and my after-boil gravity was right on target. Heavy whirlpool hop additions gave the usual trouble with transferring into the glass carboys. Two packets of re-hydrated Safale-05 fermented the beer out nicely.

Even after over a month, a slight haze remains from the oat addition, though oxidation flavors are coming through. Drink hoppy stuff ASAP, as they say. Herbal Remedy #3 has been bottled and will be ready in a few weeks, the Farmer’s Daughter clone still has a few days of fermentation left, while a heavy scotch ale aged on scotch whisky-soaked oak chips is up next for the now-free fermenter.